Satyagraha a Vedic way of protesting

The recent Anna movement has opened a pandora of alternatives for fighting justice. From time immemorial people have been fighting for justice.

Mahatma Gandhi fought a long battle against the British. His way of protest was based on non-violence utilizing the concept of Satyagraha. The Vedic concept of Satyagraha consists of satya, ahimsa and tapasya. ‘Satya’ implies openness, honesty and truthfulness involving the opinion of every person as a part of the truth. ‘Ahimsa’ refers to non-violence and treats the opponents with the same love as that of our own and ‘Tapasya’ is willingness to sacrifice. A Satyagrahi always provide a face saving way out for the opponents. The goal of a Satyagraha is to fight for the truth and justice and not to achieve victory over the opponents. Mahatma Gandhi defined Satyagraha as ‘satya’ means truth and ‘agraha’ means firmness. He said that if you are firm in the truth in the long run you are going to win.

During Gandhian times many others showed their way of protest. Rajguru, Chandrashekhar and Bhagat Singh took the path of violence and killed General Dyer. Most of the Indian movies including Rang De Basanti took inspiration from them. Jinnah way of protest was aimed in dividing the country and get Pakistan and Ambedkar’s way of protest was to get reservation for the backward people. Krishna way of protest was to hide himself, “rooth jana or to pretend as if he was upset” Strike is a modernized version of Satyagraha...................................more

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Gandhigiri: the Path of Satya, Non violence, Sarvodaya and Satyagraha

The science behind Anna movement based on Gandhigiri Gandhigiri always works, weather it was Mahatma Gandhi, the movie “Lago Raho Munnabhi” or the Gandhian Anna. The Gandhian principles were so framed that it always united the common man.The four basic principles Gandhi taught were of Satya (truthfulness); Ahimsa (non violence); Sarvodaya (welfare.... more     http://www.itimes.com/users/iti475269/blogs

Bihar Strike Ended

On Monday night, I was invited by Mahuaa TV to join in a debate on the strike of Bihar doctors. 4000 government doctors of Bihar had gone on strike alleging that the government of Bihar had refused to interfere on their demand of providing protection to practicing government doctors.

The strike was in response to the death of a government doctor who was beaten to death, while on–duty, by some jail inmates over his refusal to sign a false certificate. The Government Doctors’ Association wanted the Bihar government to act and pass the Medical Protection Bill at the earliest.

From the TV reports, after listening to the statement of the Health Minister of Bihar, it appeared that there was a confrontation between the politicians and the medical doctors. The government refused to listen and talk to the doctors and the doctors insisted that they would continue to strike till the government listens to their demand. If both parties remain adamant, the ultimate loser would be the patient.

In a recent Delhi Medical Council order dated 07.12.2010, the council felt, "Under no circumstances doctor should resort to strike as the same puts the patients in severe jeopardy".

Looking at the genesis of a strike, no strikes are ever done, they are always allowed to be done. If the respective government body listens to the memorandum submitted by the so–called striking doctors in time and solves their demands in time, the strike would never take place. In this case, if the government had reacted in time and ordered an inquiry into the doctor’s death, the reactions of the doctors would not have ended up into this strike. Implementing Doctors’ Protection Bill is in the interest of the society as most of the states have already implemented it.

Follow up: The members of Bihar Health Services Association (BSHSA) resumed back to work at government hospitals on 1^st June. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered the transfer of the Inspector General (Jail) and Gopalganj District Magistrate on the basis of the report of the principal secretary (Home), who inquired into the incident. Kumar had also announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the victim. Health services were partially affected across the state with about 2,600 government doctors. During the protest, BSHSA had demanded a compensation of Rs one crore to the family of the deceased, besides ensuring adequate security to the doctors on duty and implementation of the Medical Professionals Protection Act.

Bihar doctors’ strike

On Monday night, I was invited by Mahuaa TV to join in a debate on the strike of Bihar doctors. 4000 government doctors of Bihar had gone on strike alleging that the government of Bihar had refused to interfere on their demand of providing protection to practicing government doctors.

The strike was in response to the death of a government doctor who was beaten to death while on-duty by some jail inmates over his refusal to sign a false certificate. The Government Doctors’ Association wanted the Bihar government to act and pass the Medical Protection Bill at the earliest.

From the TV reports, after listening to the statement of the Health Minister of Bihar, it appeared that there was a confrontation between the politicians and the medical doctors. The government refused to listen and talk to the doctors and the doctors insisted that they would continue to strike till the government listens to their demand. If both parties remain adamant, the ultimate loser would be the patient.

In a recent Delhi Medical Council order dated 07.12.2010, the council felt, “Under no circumstances doctor should resort to strike as the same puts the patients in severe jeopardy”. 

Looking at the genesis of a strike, no strikes are ever done, they are always allowed to be done. If the respective government body listens to the memorandum submitted by the so-called striking doctors in time and solves their demands in time, the strike would never take place. In this case, if the government had reacted in time and ordered an inquiry into the doctor’s death, the reactions of the doctors would not have ended up into this strike.

Implementing Doctors’ Protection Bill is in the interest of the society as most of the states have already implemented it. We only hope that the ego clash between the political will and the government doctors does not end up into a great loss to the patient care and we also hope that this strike remains confined to Bihar and does not get support from doctors in neighboring states or it might end up in an all-India strike.